True Black, posters on Kickstarter

[Arthurdubya]

Hi all!

I see that someone's already picked up on this Kickstarter, but I thought it best to introduce myself formally

I actually hadn't posted on this forum and mainly kept to the Deck Creation section until a Kickstarter supporter told me I should share here!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/61940810/true-black-tarot-art-posters-set-1

I've tried to describe this deck as visions or dreams given to us by another entity, or viewing aspects of our human psyche as artifacts given physical form, placed in a museum for otherworldly beings to watch. The main theme of this deck, though, is of wonder, hope, and excited fear of the great expanse.

I wanted these images to be beautiful, silky, and luxurious, but simultaneously hold a feeling of muted rawness and undercurrents of dread. The more positive cards should feel like breaths of fresh air, light in the dark. Then there are others that should elicit that subtle realization that this dream is not a good one.

There's some more explanation of my approach to tarot in the Kickstarter video, but the goal is to eventually turn all these paintings in a deck, and attempt to get it all funded on Kickstarter come September. By that point, I hope to have around half the deck painted.

Instead of just letting my paintings gather dust until that point though, I figured it'd be best to spread awareness and gather some funds to help aid the final deck creation (if I can make it so the September KS needs to meet 20k instead of 30k, it makes the whole project a lot more feasible) through the production of these first 10 paintings into poster format!

Thanks for reading, and check out the Kickstarter link above!

All 10 paintings are visible there, and my approach riffs off RWS tarot with some personal interpretation. PLEASE DO ask any questions at all, give me feedback, and discuss your interpretations here! I'd love to see all your thoughts!

(also, if you know of any avenues/blogs/writers that would like to see this, it'd be awesome to get their contact information)

 

[willowy]

Hi,
Fantastic artwork,this looks a deck thats right up my street.I'm not really a 'poster'type person so it doesn't bother me not getting them(I'm in uk and smaller pledges only ship in us,kind of unfair to us in uk,couldn't we have recieved a pic for our computer or something?)but have pledged $15 anyway to support your project,as I'd love to see it become a full deck.When the full deck is completed will it ship to uk?

 

[Arthurdubya]

Hey Willowy,

Thank you so much for your contribution, and YES, the full deck will ship everywhere.

Posters are very odd in that they are fairly cheap in and of themselves, but shipping costs A LOT. They're big, so they need to be rolled up, and that creates a huge amount of shipping volume. Decks are pretty tiny, compared to the big tubes that posters come in.

Costs to ship posters outside the US are double what the cost of the poster itself is, so I've only enabled shipping outside the US for higher pledges, to make it more worth your while.

A single poster in the US costs $9 to ship. 3 posters will also cost 9$ to ship, and a full 10, maybe $11 or $12 to ship (because the poster stock it's printed on is so thick and heavy). I'd hate to make someone pay $20 in shipping to get a poster worth $18!

I feel bad that you've contributed $15 and still get nothing in return though! At the conclusion of this Kickstarter, when I'll be tallying up prints to produce, please send me a message on KS with your address and I'll get something to you.

 

[Achlys]

Oh, I recognize the artwork. You've posted on reddit also, right?
Looking forward to the deck!

 

[Arthurdubya]

Hi, yes! Reddit's given me some pretty good feedback and support. Glad to see you here as well!

If you know of any other communities/writers/bloggers that'd be interested in seeing this, I'll need all the help I can get!

Sidenote: NYC! What's up! I grew up in Manhattan, Lower East Side.

 

[DDwarks]

I pledged a little money too just to help out.
Pity I'm not in the States. The US only deals are good
Looking forward to owning the deck soon

 

[willowy]

Hey Willowy,

Thank you so much for your contribution, and YES, the full deck will ship everywhere.

Posters are very odd in that they are fairly cheap in and of themselves, but shipping costs A LOT. They're big, so they need to be rolled up, and that creates a huge amount of shipping volume. Decks are pretty tiny, compared to the big tubes that posters come in.

Costs to ship posters outside the US are double what the cost of the poster itself is, so I've only enabled shipping outside the US for higher pledges, to make it more worth your while.

A single poster in the US costs $9 to ship. 3 posters will also cost 9$ to ship, and a full 10, maybe $11 or $12 to ship (because the poster stock it's printed on is so thick and heavy). I'd hate to make someone pay $20 in shipping to get a poster worth $18!

I feel bad that you've contributed $15 and still get nothing in return though! At the conclusion of this Kickstarter, when I'll be tallying up prints to produce, please send me a message on KS with your address and I'll get something to you.

Its ok,don't worry I know all about shipping costs Its a sad fad that alot of the really unique decks are American, so I reguarly end up paying more,I brought the Merryday tarot earliar last year and shipping came to more than the deck!Don't even get me started on customs...
I completely understand,what I meant was maybe do a screensaver for peoples computers/tablets,that way equals reward but no need for shipping,some other campaigns on kickstarter did this,and I think you're art would look good like that,and may bring in more pledges.
Aww,thanks thats really sweet,you don't have to though,as long as I can get the deck to the uk eventually I'm good,but I'm happy I supported your campaign since you're so nice!

 

[Arthurdubya]

Sending a higher resolution image for you all to use digitally is a pretty good idea.

My only fear has been copyright issues. If an image is large enough to see on a computer screen, it's certainly large enough to reproduce on a card.

At the very least, I know this community is trustworthy, so anyone on Aeclectic backing I'd like to at least provide that for. I'll try and mull over including a digital poster on the Kickstarter, and how I could possibly prevent/diminish the possibility of stolen artwork. Maybe I'm blowing that out of proportion?

 

[willowy]

Sending a higher resolution image for you all to use digitally is a pretty good idea.

My only fear has been copyright issues. If an image is large enough to see on a computer screen, it's certainly large enough to reproduce on a card.

At the very least, I know this community is trustworthy, so anyone on Aeclectic backing I'd like to at least provide that for. I'll try and mull over including a digital poster on the Kickstarter, and how I could possibly prevent/diminish the possibility of stolen artwork. Maybe I'm blowing that out of proportion?

That would be good,maybe a small copyright mark somewhere?Please don't go to a huge amount of trouble or take any risk of your art being stolen though.

 

[Arthurdubya]

Hi all!

I've posted a huge update on rewards for this Kickstarter, specifically addressing a few outstanding concerns that I'm guilty of not having thought of. They are listed below, as well as on the Kickstarter itself.

The following updates are now in effect.

-All backers of these "preliminary poster" Kickstarters will receive a random card from the prototype decks, signed. I think this is the big one, and hopefully you agree. For the ones pledging early, throwing their trust at 10 of 78 cards, you deserve some special recognition. The prototype decks will be handmade, and high-end effects will need to be added manually, literally by my own hand since industrial production would be extensively cost-prohibitive. These will also be the decks featured in photo shoots and all publicity prior and during the launch of the final deck Kickstarter. They're Version 0.0, the precedent for all future decks.

-All backers will receive an additional print, depending on the level of their pledge. This is fairly straightforward. Every backer currently and in the future will receive an additional print of their choosing, size dependent on their pledge level.

-Digital-only wallpaper pledge level added. I've added a pledge level named The Lost Number, at the cost of $13. This gets you a digital wallpaper of the card of your choosing, though there will be a very low-contrast watermark present. I will make every attempt to keep it as unobtrusive as possible.

-All backers will receive backer-only updates with in-process painting shots and card prototyping. Backers will be the first and only to hear about the ongoing process of painting and prototyping the deck and its feasibility. You'll probably be hearing about a lot of methodologies and processes from the design and manufacturing world!

Thank you guys again!